Compliments of 

J. ORMOND WILSON, 

Superintendent. 







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DESCRIPTION AND DEDICATION 



JEFFEESON" 



Public School Building, 



December 7, 1872, 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 



But our children will be as wise as we are, and will establish in the fulness 
of time those things not yet ripe for establishment-TuoMAs Jefferson. 



WASHINGTON CITY: -'• 

M'QILL & WITHEROW, PRINTERS AND STEREOTTPERS 

1872. 



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' 1 



I>ESCrtII»TI01V J^JSD X>EI>lCjiLTI03V 



JEFFERSON PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING. 



DESCRIPTION. 

The site on which the Jefferson Public School Building stands is located on 
tlie southeast corner of Sixth and D streets soutlnvest, a central position for 
the accommodation of the residents of South Wasliington. The parcels of 
ground of wliicii it is made up were purchased b3' the late Corporation of Wash- 
ington, as follows: Lot No. 8, from Thomas and W.W. Corcoran, deed dated March 
13, 1845, for $750;' part of lot No. 9, from Joim M. Springman, deed dated May 
12, 1860, for $3,525; part of lot No 9, from Patrick O'Brien, deed dated May 
24, 1860, for $1,100; part of lot No. 9, from George Wright, deed dated May 23, 
18G0,for $928 ; lot No. 10, from Richard Barry, deed dated May 12, 1860, for $7,320. 
It lias a front of 283 feet, average depth of 224 feet, contains 63,288 square feet, 
and originally cost, as will be seen from the statements made above, $13,623. 
Its present value is estimated to be $30,000. 

By an act of the City Councils, approved March 28, 1870, authority to erect 
the building was given to a committee, composed of the Mayor, to be ex officio 
chairman, three Aldermen, three Couticilmen, and four Trustees of Public Schools; 
and the requisite appropriations were made by the same act and a subsequent 
one approved May 9, 1871, and renewed by an act of the Legislative Assembly 
of the District of Columbia, approved August 23, 1871. 

The well-known architect, Mr. Adolf Cluss, was employed to prepare plans 
of the building and superintend its erection. Proposals were received in re- 
sponse to an advertisement, and a contract was awarded to Messrs. Hunt & 
Williams, their bid being the most favorable. 

Detailed descriptions of the various structures for school purposes in this city 
have been given from time to time, all of which reflect the highest credit on this 
community. Tlje most important of all, the Jefferson School Building, so named 
in honor of Thomas Jefferson, who, while President of the United States, was 
also President of the first Board of Trustees of Public Schools of Washington, and 
held that office for three years, is unique in many respects, most complete in all 
its appointments, and accommodates 1,200 pupils of various grades in 20 school- 
rooms. 

It has been attempted, in the design of this building, to subordinate the artistic 
to the useful, and to give in architecture an expression of the dominant sen- 
timents of our time. The same number of children that have been pursuing their 
studies on its site for years will pursue them in tlie new building, the only dif- 
ference being that they were formerly housed in temporary frames, and in fact 
cramped in disgraceful huts with seven-foot ceilings, and without an apology for 
ventilation. The immense structure will not draw a single child from other 
sections. 

The building has a main front of 173 feet in length, facing D street. It con- 
sists of a centre pnrt 111 feet in length by 59 feet in width, and has two adjoin- 
ing end wings, each having 31 feet in front and 88 feet in depth, with the facades 



projecting 15 feet from tlio walls of the center part. It has a basement 10 feet 
lii^li, a first and second story 1-i feet higii, a third story 15 feet liigh for school- 
rooms, and increased lieight for a puhlic hall, above which there is a trussed 
roof. The .scliool-roonis are distributed through the tliree princijial stories, so 
that the smallest children are located in the first, whilst those of riper years 
occuiiy in succession the two higlier stories. 

The size of school rooms must depend upon the number of pupils and the mode 
of seating them, as well as the teachers; and the number and width of the pas- 
sages must be regulated accordingly. Tlie regular number of pupils in one of our 
modern school-rooms is 60, and for seating tiiem the single-desk system has been 
uniformly adopted as possessing superior advantages. Our prevailing system 
of teaching requires blackboards for the whole length of available wall space, 
and consequently a wide passage all around a modest group of diminutive sen- 
atorial desks and cliairs in tlie center of the rooms. This requires an area of 
about 900 square feet, and with a clear height of \ i feet, a room of 12. GOO cubic 
feet in contents, or a minimum area of 15 square feet of floor space, and a mini- 
mum quantity of 210 cubic feet of air for each pupil. We call this a minimum, 
becau.se, on account of sickness and other unavoidable causes, the whole number 
of pupils are seldom present. 

The shape of the room is dependent upon tbe mode of lighting it, and upon 
the voice of the teacher, it being requisite that all the desks, and also the black- 
boards, on the inner side of the room, be sufficiently light; and as the height of 
the room is limited, so as not to over-tax the voice of the teacli«r or swell the cost 
of construction ami expense of heating, there results a certain maximum width 
of rooms, and tliis has been fixed at 27 feet. Theoretically it is preferable to 
have a sufficiency of light from one side, but with our modes of regulating it by 
shades there is no objection to have it from more than one side. To assist the 
teacher in his task, we make round corners on the side of the room opposite to 
his desk, and break the sharp corners formed by the intersection of side walls 
and ceiling by li^lit and comely cornices, with the lowest member formed of 
wood, and rebated out to receive hooks to wliich the maps and charts are attach- 
ed, and we seat the teacher in an elliptical niche, which acts acoustically like the 
spherical shell which experience and theory have uniformly suggested and pop- 
ularized for the shape of the prompter's box in opera houses and theatres. The 
basement of the building has been appropriated to playrooms, heating appara- 
tus, wash-troughs, coal-cellars, and the necessary rooms for a janitor. 

The first story, the window-sills of which are 10 feet above ground, so as to 
separate it more thoroughly from the noise and bustle of the street, contains two 
main entrances from front and rear, one for male and the other for female 
pupils, four school-rooms of 27 by 33 feet, and four school-rooms of 27 by 35 
feet in size, with adjoining cloak-rooms 6 feet in width, containing the strips 
with clothes- hooks, shelving, and closets for teachers. The corridors are 15 feet 
in width, with tlie airy stair-cases on one end, and spacious vestibules on the 
other, to avoid draughts. Tlie second story has the same accommodations, 
and besides library or office rooms above the front entrances. The third story 
contains four school-rooms, with their dependencies, and a public hall, the gen- 
eral appearance of which recalls to mind the old lecture-room of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, which was noted for its acoustic piroperties. It is somewhat 
fan shaped, 110 feet in length and 56 feet in width. It has a gallery with a 
circular front, supported by light iron columns. In the construction of these 
rooms another object has been kept in view besides easy speaking and accurate 
hearing, namely, the distinct .seeing. It is desirable that every person should 
have an opportunity of seeing any experiments which may be occasionally per- 
formed, as well as of hearino; distinctly the explanation of them. By a fortunate 
coincidence of principle, it liappens that the arrangements for insuring unob- 
structed sight do not interfere with tho.se necessary for distinct hearing. 

The platform for spieakers or per.'brmers is placed between two oblique walls. 
The corners of the rooms, which are cut off liy these walls, afford retiring rooms. 
The ceiling is twenty three feel high, and therefore within the limit of percep- 



tibility. It is surrounded by a stucco cornice, but otherwise is smooth and 
unbroken, with the exception of circular openings for introducing light and 
for ventilation, in connection with sun-burners. Tlie seats are arranged in 
curves, and rise in accordance with the panoptic curve, which enables each indi- 
vidual to see over the head of tlie person immediately in front. 

The walls behind the platform are composed of lath and plaster, and there- 
fore have a tendency to give a more intense, though less prolonged sound than 
if composed of solid masonry. They are also arranged for exhibiting drawings 
for illustrations to the best advantage. The speaker is thus placed, as it were, 
in the mouth of an immense trumpet. The sound directly from his voice, and 
that from reflection immediately behind him, is thrown forward upon the 
audience, and as the difference of distance traveled by the two rays is much 
within the limits of perceptibility, no confusion is produced by direct and re- 
flected sound. " Limit of perceptibility" is called that interval of space within 
which the original impulse from the voice and its reflection from a wall may 
follow each other without appearing separately. Though in all cases a reflected 
sound must be sent back to the ear, no echo is perceptible in a crowded room 
from a near wall, because the difference in time in which it reaches our ear is 
too small for the powers of perception of our mental organs. Again, on account 
of the oblique walls behind the speaker and the multitude of surfaces, including, 
the gallery, pillars, projection of foul-air shafts in the corners of the room oppo- 
bite the platform, etc., as well as the audience directly in front, all reverberation 
is stopped. No echo is given off from the ceiling, for this is also within the 
limit of perceptibility, while it assists the hearing in the gallery by the reflec- 
tion to that place of the oblique rays. 

Light is introduced into this hall by twelve high windows, which, to be in 
keeping with the principles of sound, should be furnished with plain but heavy 
woolen curtains. The gallery is lighted by the skylights in tlie ceiling mentioned 
above. These skylights are ten feet square above the ceilings, are brought up 
vertically eight feet above the fla-s of the roof, with glazed sides, but they have 
a closed ceiling, with a patent ventilator in the center, in contrailistinction to 
the horizontal hot-bed sash, which rather defies than assists ventilation. The 
walls and ceiling of the hall are plainly panelled and done in distemper; the 
lower part of the sides are wainscoted. 

The floors of the whole house are made of narrow, hard Southern yellow pine, 
laid upon yellow-pine floor beams, 16 inches in height, and have been thoroughly 
oiled, to facilitate cleaning them. The oiling should be repeated occasionally, 
and if attention be paid to cleaning the floors with moderately warm water, 
they will come up to all the requirements of cleanliness, health, and pleasant 
appearance. All the floor beams are counter-ceiled 2 inches below their upper 
face and deafened with hair mortar, which counteracts the transmission of 
sound, and would stay the progress of fire from one story to another. 

The walls and ceilings of corridors and school-rooms are plastered on lathing, 
in order to prevent the condensation of water liberated from the heated winter 
air by contact witli the surface of the cold walls. They are plastered with the 
last coat consisting of a sand finish, which is most favorable for the tinting in 
distemper uniformly applied in shades of which blue forms an element, on ac- 
count of its beneficial effect on the eye. As such walls are liable to be soiled to 
a considerable extent by children, and to have the color rubbed off by their 
clothes, a wainscoting to the heiglit of the window-sills has been adopted, which 
consists of a base-stiip of hard wood screwed to the floor, narrow, rich-grained 
yellow-pine boards, and a capping forming the chalk-box below a strip of black 
plastering four feet wide, and extending all around the room. The tinting 
of the walls— a cheap operation—should be repeated by experts every five years 
for sanitary reasons. 

Every school-room is provided with two double doors, one of which leads 
directly to a corridor, whilst the other leads to it through the cloak-rooms, most 
of which are so arranged as to form a compartment between adjoining rooms, to 
pneVL-nt the tran.smission of souii'l. 



6 

All the doors are 4 by 8 feet in size, are glazed with fluted glass for trans- 
mission of light, without causing the attention of the pujnls to be distracted by 
observing what passes outside the room. These doors have also glazed, pivot- 
ing transom lights, 3 feet in lieight, for summer ventilation, l^ie doors are 
hung witii black Japanned, acorn-lop])ed hinges; have brass-faced mortice 
locks, lava knobs, and the necessary bolts. The construction of the two doors 
at both sides of the teacher's niclie does not interfere with the arrangement of 
the desks, nor does it expose the children to any drafts. 

In ti)e arrangement, number, and size of the windows it was designed to bring 
them as near as possible to tlie ceilings of the room. A great heiglit of window 
sills is desii'able, as acting against tlie influx of false light, and preventing ])upils 
from looking on the street from their seats. The size of all the windows is 4 
by 9 feet; their number is four for all rooms that receive the whole supply of 
light from one side, and six where light is transmitted from two sides. Each 
window is provided with two rolling blinds of ojien-grained tinted stufl', one 
fastened at the height of the meeting rail, and the other at the full heiglit of the 
window. These sliados serve as a protection against the solar rays, and for 
regulating the light. "White shades would be hurtful to the eyes. 

A centralized heating apparatus, making use of low-pressure steam, offers 
many advantages when compared with any other system now in use, and having 
successfully overcome all the objections formerly raised against it, and having 
stood actual tests admirably, it can be considered as ]ire-eminently adapted for 
schools, and has therefore been unhesitatingly adopted. The equable, agreeable 
warming of the rooms, absence of the many fires, with the concomitant dust and 
dirt caused by the fuel, saving of labor in conveying fuel, and removing ashes, 
and the stopyung of the everlasting repairs by furnace-men, speak forcibly in 
favor of the new mode, wliich, being low-]iressure, is secure from danger. 

For heating the whole structure there are jilaced two boilers below the main 
entrances, which are so arranged and connected that either of tiiem can be used 
for heating tlie whole building in case of repairs or in moderately cold weather. 

The apparatus is self-acting, being supplied with a safety-valve for letting 
ofl" superfluous steam, and a self-regulating mechani.sm, which, when the steam 
reaches the highest point allowed, closes the damper, and shuts off all draught, 
by opening the flue door until the steam falls below its proper maximum. When 
it opens it again, the damper continues to work as before. 

The building is planned with the view of healing the main stories principally 
with circulated air, su])plied from stacks of coils located in the basement anli 
inclosed in brickwork, so as to form indejiendent hot-air chambers for all the 
rooms and corridors, which are fed by cold-air ducts from witliout, and transmit 
the heat to the rooms above by means of vertical tin-lined brick flues and wall 
registers. These ducts are of such size as to provide pure air in suificient quan- 
tities to replace that in the whole building once in every twenty minutes. This 
modern means of heating enables us to locate the sources of heat more advan- 
tageously than the old means did. Independent of the ]iosition of the smoke- 
stacks, they can be placed where most neeiled and least in the way, namely, at 
the coldest corners of the rooms. Those pu]iils sitting near the registers will not 
sufler from radiating heat, since its temperature will also be moderate, and an 
overheating of the system can never take place for reasons stated above. 

Our new Public School buildings aflbrd a niucli greater quantity of air (210 
cubic feet for each pupil inside the school-room) than was allotted formerly. 
Tiie use of the spacious school rooms takes place only for a number of hours 
each day, with stated intervals. A forced renewal of the air by mechanical 
a]i])liances, such as is necessary in hospitals, is therefore not resorted to, and 
arrangements have been instituted, based u])on extraction by means of high, 
heated shafts. The results aclueved have, in the case of the Franklin School 
Building, full}' realized all expectations, and have excited the admiration of the 
earnest men who take an interest in the matter. The efliciency of the system 
lia.s also been visibly proved by anemometers. 

Fflicicnt ventilation ujioa a proper basis could not have been effected before 



Priestly liad defined the composition of the atmosphere as it depends upon the 
removal of the foul or vitiated air, and the introduction of fresh air, which in 
winter must be previously warmed. 

The removal of the vitiated air from the school-room is effected by wall regis- 
ters, placed near the floor and on tiie side opposite to that with the hot-air reg- 
isters. These ventilating registers are connected with foul-air shafts, reaching 
down to the sole of tlie basement, where they communicate with two ascending 
shafts, (technically called chemin^e d'appel,) of an area equal to the aggregate 
area of all the foul air-flues discharging into them. In the Jefferson Building 
there are two such shafts of 26 square feet in area each. These shafts receive 
iron pipes, forming the smoke flues of the boilers, and are heated in this manner 
as long as these are in operation. Stacks of steam coils increase the draught 
thus formed by the rarefaction of the air. In damp spring or fall days, when 
the heating apparatus is at rest, gas heaters, placed within the ascending shaft, 
supfdy the motive power for producing the upward current, which is drawn 
through the registers in the rooms and foul-air shafts downwards, and passed 
oft' with sufficient rapidity to insure the perfect ventilation of the entire building. 
Since in this climate the heated term is taken for the annual vacation, no 
complicated artiflcial means are necessary for cooling the fresh air introduced. 

The work required for heating and ventilating this building was done in the 
best style and most satisfactory manner by the Messrs. A. R. Shepherd & Bros., 
of this city. 

In the external architecture of the building a combination has been aimed at 
uniting solidity and grace, so that the internal arrangement and purposes of the 
structure are revealed by its outside appearance. This required that the mate- 
rial should be characteristically brought out, instead of hiding it by the ephem- 
eral illusions of paint and putty. The bulk of the walls is therefore built of 
hard-burnt bricks, as an economical material, the durability of whicli is vouched 
for by monuments dating back many centuries, and the outside of the building 
is faced with select bricks of the best style, which, being oiled, present a surface 
defying the action of the elements. 

Ornamental arches and recesses of brickwork around the single, double, and 
triple segmental windows, with lieavy-molded keystones and lintels, and pilas- 
ters with intermediate fancifully-shaped brick cornices, crowned by a bold 
modillion cornice, enter harmoniously into the architectural design. 

The front and sides have a base of rusticated cut stone, six feet in height. 
The two semi circular main entrances are columnated, with richly-carved caps, 
enriched friezes, and acroterias, all of tooled cut-stone. A continuous belt-course 
of cut-stone runs around front and sides at height of second-story window sills. 
Seneca sandstone, a durable and cheap material, the tint of which harmonizes, 
is used for tliese prominent features. The necessary wall-anchors are gracefully 
shaped, so as to add another feature to the design. 

The buihling is covered in with a modern slate roof laid to tasty patterns, 
in green, blue, and red, enlivened by dormer windows of varied shape, with 
the central one of the front made prominent, so as to serve for the purpose of a 
belfiy. These roofs are crowned by iron-crest railings, so as to form a pictur- 
esque sky line. The principal inside partitions consist of brickwork. AH the 
interior finish of the house, architraves, frames, doors, and sash, consist of a 
combination of best seasoned heart Virginia yellow pine and oak. They are 
put together with brass screws, left with their native color, and well oiled. All 
the doors of the house, interior and exterior, open outward. Tiie walls under- 
giiound are all plastered with cement on the outside, and drain pipes are laid 
around the whole building below the floor-line of the basement. 

Spaces in front of the building and on the side facifig Sixth street have been 
inclosed by wrought-iron railing, sodded, and ornamented by shrubbery and 
fountains. 

The water closets are placed in a separate building in the j'ard, approached 
by two covered corridors. 

The clocks and bells are all worked by electricity. A regulator in the Trus- 



tees' office communicates with and times the dials in all the school rooms, thus 
securing perfect uniformity in time and harmony in llie movements of the dif- 
ferent scliools. 

Single desks and chairs are provided for pupils, and the furniture is all made 
of the best material, and in the latest style. The desks and chairs for pupils 
were manufactured by J. A. Brancroft & Co., of Philadelphia; the teachers' 
desks by Wm. G. Sliattuck, of Boston; and the settees lor the large hall by J. 
W. Scliermeriiorn & Co., of New York. 

The building complete, with the furniture and the improvement of the grounds, 
cost about $]oO,000. 

The building committee in charge of the work during the greater part of the 
time consisted of Governor Henry D. Cooke, chairman ex ofiicio; Messrs Smith 
and Cross, of the Council; Messrs. Eoswell, Hunt, an<l Lloyd, of the House of 
Delegates; and Messrs. Ciianiplin, Harris, McLellan.and French, of the Board 
of Trustees of Public Schools. 

DEDICATION. 

Saturday, December 7, 1872, was appointed for the dedication of the Jefferson 
Public School Building. The Indian summer departing seemed to have left one 
of its golden days as a setting for these interesting ceremonies. The spacious 
and elegant hall with its gallery was well tilled with representatives of all 
classes of citizens, and on the platform were seated gentlemen eminent in their 
various vocations, and many who were, or at some time had been, officially con- 
nected with the schools. At 1 o'clock p. m. the exercises were commenced with 
the following 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY MR. JOSEPH M. WILSON, TRUSTEE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 
FOURTH SCHOOL DTSTRICT, AND CHAIRMAN OF THE ASSEMBLY. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of the Trustees of the Fourth School Dis- 
trict, I thank you for yoar attendance here to-day. We feel the need and appre- 
ciate the value of that co-operation and interest indicated by your being with us 
to aid in the dedication and setting apart of this building for the purposes of 
education. 

This is in no particular a private enterprise, but is in every sense of the word 
public, to which tiie people have not only free, but welcome access at all limes ; 
and we trust that at least all parents will exercise the duty of visitation, and 
see for themselves what is being done to assist them in the training of those 
whom God has given them. 

This building, symmetrical in its architecture, tasteful in its adornments, and 
complete in its arrangements, is a vi.'-ible illustration of what the citizens of this 
District are willing to do in behalf of the education of the children ; and it has 
also just claims upon our most profound consideration, from the fact that it has 
been erected by virtue of law. Teachers of acknowledged skill and varied 
experience have been appointed in accordance with law, and the cbihlren are 
educated in obedience to law. From their entrance into the Primary, through 
the various grades up to the Grammar School, reverence for the law, obedience 
to the rules, and a ()roper regard for discipline, mark every step of their prog- 
ress — for as the child is, so is ttie man. 

To our regard for the law, as the concentration of human wisdom, is added 
our reverence lor the law of God; and we open the services of each day with 
the reading of the Holy Bible and the audible utterance of the Lord's Prayer 
by the teachers and the clnldren. For we hold tluit it would be unwise to sever 
an acknowledgment of the law of God from the laws of man : reverence for tiie 
former, invariably begets regard for the latter. 

It is a matter of sincere regret that the laws of the District do not advance 
the pupils beyond the Grammar School. Many of us hope, however, that the 
time is not far distant when the High School shall be ours; but in tiie mean- 



9 

time, in view of the great importance of the German element in our land, the 
scholars have the privilege, under a special act, of learning that language. To 
this m time may be added others, for our country is fast becoming a representa- 
tive universe. People of all tongues and kindred and climes are coining in like 
a flood, and finding what they never found before, a country " where the weights 
are lifted from all men's shoulders, and every one has the same chance." The 
East and the West, Europe and Asia, are contributing largely of their best ma- 
terial, men and women able and willing to work. 

With the erection of this building tlie shanties have all passed away. A year 
ago, and the ground whence tliis splendid tem])le rises was covered with six or 
eiglit one-story frame houses, so old and dilapidated that the term shanty hardly 
covers the case ; but they have forever gone. As the law is powerless beyond 
the average moral conceptions of the people, which enables the officers of justice 
to enforce it, so is the school- house an indication of the average inlellectual stand- 
ing of the community. There was a time when the shanty was sufficient for the 
views held on tlie subject of public education by the inhabitants of this city ; 
now, however, the tastes of the people — their refinement, their judgment, nay 
their very necessities — all conspire to demand just such a building as this. The 
spacious grounds attached are amply sufficient for recreation, and the planting 
of ornamental trees, flowers, slirubs, and evergreens. This is a circumstance 
of great import, and one which we trust will soon be deemed essential to all 
school-houses. These grounds are now being ornamented under the direction 
of a gentleman of acknowledged taste and experience, William Saunders, Esq., 
of this city, who has long encouraged, both by precept and example, the decora- 
tion of school-liouse grounds ; and we acknowledge our gratitude for this volun- 
tary service rendered by him ; for our education would indeed be faulty if it did 
not impress upon the minds of the children a love for the beautiful, reflecting 
itself in after years in loving households, happy hearts, and refining influences. 

This is also the time and place to bear testimony to the fidelity of the Build- 
ing Committee in fulfilling the honorable trusts committed to their care, but 
more particularly is our gratitude due to the untiring energy and faithful devo- 
tion of one who has long borne the heat and burden of the daj', never weary in 
well-doing, living down disappointments and indifference, and amid the de- 
sponding ever believing in the ultimate success of the cause. His heart more 
than all others must swell with grateful emotion when he sees this crowning 
glory of that which fully illustrates his just conception of what the people have 
a right to expect in a |)ublic school in Washington City. To Mr. Elward Champ- 
lin, the veteran Trustee of this District, this honor is due. 

We trust, friends, that you will bear us in your remembrance, and that your 
best wishes will follow us and those who may come after us as Trustees; that 
we all may be imbued with a proper sense of our responsibilities to you, the 
people. The trusts committed to our care are pre-eminently sacred, not only for 
the children, but for our beloved land. For we feel assured that the safety of 
the Republic depends upon the virtue and intelligence of her citizens. And it 
will be wise to heed the admonition of the Father of his Country, in his Fare- 
well Address, "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions 
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a gov- 
ernment gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public o})inion should 
be enlightened." 

If, then, as is clearly understood, the law extends to all certain privileges, it 
aLso comprehends certain duties. While the rights of the children are protected, 
there are specific obligations resting upon their parents. Let them fulfill tliese 
obligations as becomes their sacred relations to their oflspring ; then, from this 
school, where 1,200 children can be annually educated, classes will graduate, 
the boys bidding fair to grow up to eminence, honorable because useful, wise 
because virtuous, reflecting honor upon this their Alma Mater, and the girls 
gracefully presiding over happy households with intelligence, gentleness, and 
love. 

In view of our regard for religion, which is our great hope, the Rev. Dr 



10 

Sunderland will now read a portion of the Holy Bible, and invoke the blessing 
of God to rest upon this enterprise. 



The Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. D., read in an impressive manner the 35th 
chapter of Isaiah, and invoked the Divine blessing. 

Miss Ada H. Willey, a pupil of the Female Grammar School, presided at the 
grand Knabe piano provided for the building, and a choir, composed of sixty 

Supils selected from the Grammar and Intermediate Schools of the Fourth School 
•istrict, led by Prof. Joseph H. Daniel, sung in fine style the following 

DEDICATORY HYMN, WRITTEN FOE THE OCCASION BY MISS H. R. HUDSON. 

Gathered within these walls, 
Broadly upon us falls 

Light from the past; 
We make great thoughts our own, 
Harvests dead years have sown, 
Hopes other days have known, 

And labors vast. 

We sing our thanks and praise 
For gifts that fill the days 

With life and power; 
For Wisdom and for Truth, 
For Knowledge, born of ruth, 
For Hope's eternal youth, 

The world's grand dower. 

To him whose earnest life 
With toil and thought was rife — 

Who yet found place 
For lesser cares and fame, — 
We consecrate our aim ; 
And, with his honored name. 

These walls we grace; 

May they be blessed with peace, — 
May Learning here increase 

From year to year; 
May faith with work be blent 
Till, tlirough the ages sent. 
Wide circles of content 

Shall centre here; 

Circles whose bound shall be 
In the Eternity 

That shall be known, 
And lived, in happier splieres, 
When this world's troubled years 
And weary hopes and fears 

Are all outgrown. 



REMARKS OF MR. J. OBMOND WILSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen-. Four years after the seat of the 
Government of theXJuited States was established in tiie District of Columbia, the 
City Council of Washington passed "An Act to establish and endow a permanent 



11 

institution for the education of youth," and, in obedience to the letter and spirit 
of that ordinance, we are here to-day to formally set apart this buihling for the 
education of youth. The name with which the Board of Trustees of Public 
Schools have thought proper to honor this grand edifice calls up the earliest 
efiforts to establish a system of public education in the city of Washington. 

"The Past and Present }iere unite 
Beneath Time's flowing tide, 
Like footprints hidden by a broolv, 
But seen on either side." 

Turning back and passing over a period of sixty-seven years, we find, on 
Monday, August 5. 1805, in a room in the then national Capitol, a little assem- 
bly, composed of Robert Brent, Samuel H. Smith, William Cranch, William 
Brent, George Blagden, Jolin Dempsie, and Nicholas King, met together to or- 
ganize the first Washington "Board of Trustees of Public Schools." The book 
containing the record of tiie proceedings of these Trustees and their successors 
down to tiie year 1818, is now preserved in the Library of Congress, and in the 
minutes of that first meeting are found the following entries : " On proceeding to 
ballot for a President of the Board, Thomas Jeiferson was unanimously elected. 
The President being absent, Robert Brent was chosen chairman of the meeting. 
On motion of Mr. Smith, the chairman was requested to acquaint the President 
with his unanimous election." At a meeting held on Monday, September 2, 1805, 
"the chairman laid before the Board a letter from Mr. Jefferson, signifying his 
acceptance of tiie office of President of the Board. On motion of Mr. Smith, 
the President's letter was ordered to be entered on the minutes. It is in the 
following words : 

" MoNTiCELLO, August 14, 1805. 

"Sir: .\conpiderahie journey southwardly from this has prevented my sooner aelcnowl- 
edging letters from yourself, from Mr. Gardiner, and Mr. S H. Smith, announcing that I 
had been elefted by the City Council a Trustee for the Public Schools to be established 
at Washington, and by the Trustees to preside at their Bonrd. I receive with due sensi- 
bility these proofs of confidence from the City Council and the Board of Trustees, and 
ask the favor of you to tender them my just acknowledgments. Sincerely believing that 
knowledge promotes the happiness of men, I shall ever be disposed to contribute my 
endeavors towards its extension, and in the instance under consideration will willingly 
undertake the duties proposed to me, so far as others of paramount obligation will per- 
mit my attention to them. 

'•I pray you to accept mj' friendly salutations and assurances of great respect and 
esteem. Thomas Jefferson." 

Mr. Jefferson was re-elected annually, and continued President of the Board 
for three su-ccessive years, when his term of office as President of the United 
States expired, and he returned to Monticello. 

Tlie Public Schools at that time were sustained by funds derived in part from 
taxes and in part from suljscriptions of citizens. A list of the subscribers, with 
the amount given bjr each, varying from three dollars to two hundred, was 
entered on the Record of tlie Board, and in tliat list we find the following; 
"Thomas Jefferson, Two hundred dollars." 

It would be intere-iting to trace the Institution, now confi'led to us, from 
its humble beginning down through the almost threescore j'ears and ten that 
have since elapsed, but the occasion will not permit more than a few brief allu- 
sions to its early struggles for an existence^ Two schools were established at 
first, one in the west and one in the east section of the city, and they were 
called, respectively, tlie western Academy and the eastern Academy. The 
order of the Board establishing them directs that "the schools shall be open each 
day, Sundays excepted, ei^iht hours in summer and six in winter, to be distributed 
throughout the day as shall be fixed by the Board, except during the vacation, 
which shall not commence prior to the first day of August nor continue after 
the tenth day of September;" and that "poor children shall be taught reading, 
writing, grammar, arithmetic, and such branches of mathematics as may qualify 
them for the professions they are intended to follow, and they shall receive such 
other instruction, given to pay pupils, as the Board may from time to time direct; 
and jjai/ pupils shall besides be instructed in geography and the Latin language." 



12 

If we take into view the great advance in the facilities for communication, 
travel, and commerce since that day, we can well understand wliy an exten- 
sive knowledge of geography was not then regarded important in a ciirric- 
uhim of study for "poor cliildren." When, a few years before, Mr. JelTerson 
travelled from Williamsburg, tlie ancient capital of Virginia, to Philadelphia, 
to take his seat in the Continental Congress, he employed guides between 
Wilmington and the latter place, and ten days were consumed in the jour- 
ney, a period of time longer than is now required to make the voyage of the 
Atlantic, and nearly sufficient to cross the American continent and return. 

The first public schoolmaster was Mr. Richard White, of New York, who was 
appointed December 31, 1805, to teach the western Academy, at a salary of 
$500 per annum, ])ayable quarterly in advance. The amount of this salary may 
appear to be small, but the mode of paying it was certainly unique in its excel- 
lence, and every teacher of a Public School at the present' time will, I am sure, 
join me in a sigh that so good a custom should ever have passed away. Like 
other school-masters, Richard White soon found that the avocation he had 
chosen would not bring him wealth, nor even competence, and he tendered 
his resignation, to take efl'ect October 1, 1807, in a communication in wliich he 
"prayed for pecuniary assistance from the Board to enable him to remove from 
Washington with his family." Doubtless he sowed the seed wliich germinated 
and in time ripened into rich harvests to be gathered by others. 

" But past is all his fame, The very spot 
Where many a time he triumphed is forgot." 

His successors, now teaching in the District of Columbia, number about two 
hundred and fifty. 

The transactions of the Board at tliat early day were recorded so faithfully and 
minutely that we find even all the items in the Treasurer's accounts carefully 
set down. The frequently recurring charges for "glazing" seemingly indicate 
that the j'oung marksmen of that day liad little reverence for a school-house. 
The following entry is somewhat quaint: " 1807, Sept. 3: Dr., Washington Pub- 
lic School Institution, to Richard White, for a painted board, with the words 
"Washington Academy" thereon, $5.00." 

The first Public School-house was erected in pursuance of the following reso- 
lution of the Board, offered by Mr. Elias B. Caldwell, and adopted October 27, 
1806: "Resolved, That a sum not exceeding f 1200, be appropriated for build- 
ing a scliool-liouse at the west end of the city, and a sum not exceeding $1200, 
for building a school-house at the east end of the city" It was ordered that 
each of these school-houses should be 50 feet in length by 20 feet in width, and 
from these [iroportions, and all else that we can learn about them at this distant 
day, we mi^ht surmise, had "David ("oiijierfield" preceded them, that they were 
modelled after Mr. Peggotty's house at Yarmouth, concerning wliich we are told 
"there was a delightful door cut in the side, and it was roofed in, and there 
were little windows in it ; but the wonderful charm of it was, that it was a real 
boat which had, no doubt, been upon the water hundreds of times, and which 
had never been intended to be lived in on dry land." We could locate five of 
these primitive school edifices within this hall, and have space left for modern 
play gronnds around and a skjr above them. From the Treasurer's account of 
the expenditures under the above resolution, we learn that of the appropria- 
tion made for the western scfiool-house there remained, after its coni[)letion, 
an unexpended balance of $178.28; and of the appro[iriation made for the east- 
ern school-house, an unexpended balance of $66.84. We are here impressively 
reminded of the progress that has been made by their successors in office, for no 
school building committee of our day would presume to leave a balance on that 
side of the account. We observe, too, that the part of the city in which we are 
now convened was ignored in that resolution. Here might have been at that 
time an unbroken wilderne.ss; but if a wilful wrong was then done, South 
Washington is amply and nobly avenged to-day. 

These two Academies liad constituted the Public School Institution, receiving 



13 

the fostering care and occupying the undivided attention of the Trustees 
for a period of five years, wiien the report of a school, in the neighboring 
city of Georgetown, conducted on tlie Lancasterian plan by one Mr. George 
Dashiell, attracted their attention. This plan clairat-d superioriiy in its methods 
of instruction, and greater economy in the expenditures required for its support. 
As the Board had seriously felt the inconvenience of financial embarrassment, 
the new system was looked upon with great favor. An order to establish a 
school on the Lancasterian plan was passed November 11, ISll, a committee 
was appointed to carry it into effect, and Mr. Cranch, chairman of that com- 
mittee, reported, April 13,1812, that they had "engaged a teaclier, sent out 
by Mr. Lancaster, at $500 per annum for two years, his expenses from England 
to be paid by the Trustees." 

That teacher was Mr. Henry Oald, who opened his school February 10, 1812, 
and one year thereafter made his Annual Report, which is the first annual 
school rep"ort that I find recorded in the volume alluded to. The following is 
an extract from this pioneer report: "130 scholars have been admitted into 
your institution from the 10th February, 1812, to the 10th February, 1813, viz: 
48 females and 82 males, out of which number 2 have died, and 37 liave left the 
school for various employments, after passing through several grades of the 
school, which tlierefore leaves 91 on the list. Progress in reading and spelling: 
55 have learned to read in the Old and New Testaments, and are able to spell 
words of three, four, and five syllables; 26 are now learning to read Dr. Watts' 
hymns, and spell words of two syllables; 10 are learning words of four or five 
letters." The reason for arranging the course of study so that pupils should 
spell words of three, four, and five syllables while learning to read in the Old 
and New Testaments, and spell words of tivo .syllables, while learning to read 
Dr. Watts' hymns, is not quite apparent; but it is clearly evident that lujht 
reading received no countenance in tiiat school. 

The citizens of the District of Columbia have never been unmindful of their 
claim to a share of tlie beneficence of the National Government, so liberally ex- 
tended to all the other Territories of the United States in aid of education, and so 
early as December 13, 1805 when President Jefferson was the y>residing officer of 
the Washington Board of Trustees of Public Schools, the first memorial upon this 
subject was presented, which sets fortli that, "from the liberal patronage already 
bestowed by Congress on institutions for the education of tlie rising generation in 
various Territories of the United States, the Trustees are led to hope that every re- 
quisite encouragement will be extended to one which seems to promise superior ad- 
vantages ; that they will ])a.«s laws to a[ipropriate suitable lots in the city whereon 
the necessary buildings may be erected, and from which a revenue for theusev- 
eral purposes of the institution may be derived, and to authorize the Trustees to 
have a lottery or lotteries, under such restrictions and limitations as Congress 
maj'' deem proper to prescribe; and that they will grant such oiher and further 
aid and support as to them shall a[ipear to be expedient and proper." 

Since that petition was made to the Legislature of the Nation, its States have 
multiplied from seventeen to thirty-seven, its population has increased from six 
millions to forty millions, its territorial area has expanded from two and a 
half million to four million square miles, and its gifts from the public domain in 
aid of education elsewhere than in the District of Columbia make an aggregate of 
eighty millions of acres. Through twotliirds of a century of great history, the 
righteousness of that prayer has been of no avail; hut still our faith abides that 
this little Territorv, forever exchnled from full participation in the benefits and 
privileges of the Union, will at least receive a fair equivalent to the rich dower 
bestowed upon each of her more favoreii sisters. 

I have tiiought it not inappropriate to this occasion to present tliese brief 
sketches of the early iiistor)' of our Public Schools, with which President Jef- 
ferson was identified, although this instance of his solicitude for tlie education 
of the peofde by no means constitutes his only claim upon us, as eilucatiouists, 
for grateful remembrance. 

Appearing just before the dawn of the revolutionary period of our history, for 



14 

nearl^f forty yenrs he filled successively the most prominent positions of State. 
Dming ihiit time the right of a people to I'orni u govornmeiit for tlieiiisolves was 
asserted and vindicated on many a hard fought field, ami the foundations of that 
government were so laid that it would emlure. Political pliiiosophy, states- 
mansliip, and the duties of public office engrossed the greater part of Ins life; 
but, in his voluminous writings, he has left to })Osterity no richer legacy than 
his comprehensive views of education. Before iiis native State had yet 
achieved her independence, as a young member of the House of Delegates 
he devised a system of jiublic schools and embodied it in a bill which, had it 
been carried out, would have kept Virginia side by side with Massachusetts in 
educational progress; and when the evening of a hmg and eventful life brought 
release from public toil, his great thoughts returned to the noble object of his 
youthful aspirations. A short time before the meeting of the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia, in tlie autumn of 1817, he writes from Poplar Forest, his favorite retreat, 
to his intimate friend and correspondent, Mr. Correa, as follows: 

" I have sketohed and h.avc put into the h.ind of a member a bill delineating a practi- 
eable pliin, entirely within the means they already have on liand, destined to this object. 
Sly tiill ])roposes. 1st. Elementary schools in every county, which shall plaoeevery house- 
liolder within three miles of a school. 2d. Distriet (^ollejies, which shall iilace every 
father within a day's ride of a eolleste, where he may dispose of his son. ;{d. An univer- 
sity in a healthy and central situation, with the otler of the lands, buildings, and fund.s 
of th(> Central College, if they will ac'cept that place for their establishment.' In the first 
will be taught reading, writing, common arithmetic, and general notions of geography. 
In tlie second, ancient and modern langua<ies. geography fully, a higher degree of nu- 
merical arithmetic, mensuration, and the olenientary princijiles of navigation. In the 
third, all the usefid sciences in their highest degree. To all of which is added a selec- 
tion from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose pa- 
rents are too poor to give them further education, to be cariied at the public expense 
through the colleges and university. The object is to bring into action that mass of 
talents which lies buried in poverty in every country for want of the means of develop- 
ment, and thus give activity to a mass of mind which, in proportion to our popidation, 
shall Vie the double or treble of what it is in most countries. The expense of the element- 
ary schools for every county is proposed to be levied on the wealth of the county, and 
nil children, rich aiid poor, to be educated at these three years gratis, 'Ihe expense of 
the colleges and university, admitting two professors to each of ihe former and ten to 
the latter, can be complftely and permanently established with a sum of five hundred 
thousand dollars, in addition to the present funds of our Ciuitral College. Oui- literary 
fund has alreaily on hand, and appropriated to these purposes, a sum of seven hundred 
thou'^an<l dollars, and that increasing yearly. 'Ihis is, in fact and substance, the plan I 
proposed in a tiill fortyycirs ago, t)ut accommodated to the circumstances of this instead 
of that day. I derive my present hopes, that it may be adopted, from the fact that the 
House of Representatives at their last session passed a bill less practicable anrl bound- 
lessly expensive, and therefore alone rejected by the .Senate, and printed for pulili(> con- 
sideration and amendment. Mine, after all. may he an Utopian dream ; but. being inno- 
cent. I have thought I might indulge in it till T go to the land of dreams, and sleep there 
with t)ie dreamers of all past and future times." 

Those "iiresent hopes" were destined not to be realized during his generation, 
but yet, like Joseph's drentn, they shadow-ed forth great events, confided to the 
future; and now, after the great drenmer has sleyit for nearly half a century 
beneath the classic oak at Monticello, the State he loved so well, made wiser by 
tlie teachings of adversity, turns back to tlie neglected counsels of her most 
gifted son, and in good time will make their full fruition all her own. 



PliE.SENTXTION OF THE KEYS. 



REMARKS OF MR. TI^OMAS E. LLOYD, MEMBER OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 

My Friends: In these dedicatory ceremonies a part has been assigned to me 
as a member of the Buihling Committee; and before performing tlie duty imposed 
upon me, permit me to congratulate you all, neiglii)ors and friends, young and 
old. residents of the ohl Seventh warcl, upon the erectiiui and fall coiiipletiou of 
a temple in our midst sacred to tlie cause of public education, perfecl in all its 
details, and miuc than equnliiig our most sanguine expectations. 



15 

You know that the erection of costly buildings for school purposes in other 
portions of our cit}' made us sliohtl)'' envious, believing, yea, knowing, that our 
girls and boys, in their aptness, intelligence, love of study, and eagerness to take 
advantage of the means of education, were not behind tlie youth of other sec- 
tions, and we thought that, as a matter of right, they were entitled to accommo- 
dations not inferior to those enjoyed b}' others. 

Well, we waited hopefully and patiently, at times desponding, fearing that 
unforeseen circumstances might deprive us of equal advantages in the race for 
knowledge. Slowly but surely, however, the good work has gone on to comple- 
tion; and we to-day present to the children of the Fourth School District a 
bnihling not inferior to any in the United States in its construction, workman- 
ship, cornmodiousness, elegance, and in everything that goes to make up a model 
school-liouse. 

I well remember the inception of the enterprise on the part of our late munici- 
pal authorities, which had for its purpose the erection of a house in each School 
District which should, in elegance of design, equal similar buildings in other 
portions of our country, and be creditable to the nation's capital. To-day their 
purpose is accomplished. The Wallach, Seaton, Franklin, and Jefferson com- 
mand the admiration of strangers, and are a source of pride to our people, who 
so freely taxed themselves for their erection. 

The old municipal government has passed away. It needs no eulogy, for it 
did its part in the world's progress. Its monuments are to be seen in the admi- 
rable school system organized under it, and in the munificent liberality and en- 
larged public sentiment which has given to our people buildings for school pur- 
poses considered models of architectural skill and beauty. In dedicating the 
Jefferson Building, it is meet and proper that its founders should not be for- 
gotten, and that a grateful tribute of remembrance should be paid to our old 
municipal authorities, who so long and so Vv^ell controlled the destinies of our 
city. 

It has been the pleasure of the Trustees to do honor to two of our best citi- 
zens and to science, in the selection of names for the other buildings to which I 
have referred. To us they have given the Jefferson Building, named after him 
who was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the statutes of Vir- 
ginia for religious freedom, President of the United States, and the father of the 
University of Virginia. The University is Jefferson's monument, and is to-day 
pre-eminently distinguished as a seat of learning. 

To those whose privilege it will be in coming years to fit themselves in this 
building for the serious duties of life, I would suggest that its name should stim- 
ulate them to noble exertions for the attainment of the highest standard of 
excellence. It is said of the University of Virginia that it bestows no honor- 
ary degrees, but that its simple Master of Arts is a patent of scholarship that 
is recognized everywhere. IVIay we not hope that the day is not far distant 
when a diploma from the Public Schools of Washington will be an indorsement 
of fitness and qualification for ihe performance of any duty to which inclination 
may direct. 

Ignorance is the most dangerous of our evils, while enlightenment is the great 
necessity and the great glory of our age. The devil's worst enemy is a good 
schoolmaster, and no better fortifications can be erected against sin than school- 
houses, and they should dot our country at every cross-road from Maine to Flor- 
ida. Their doors should be opened wide to the humblest classes, if for no other 
reason than thevery lowest, the prevention of crime. Laws are passed, an army 
of judges and lawyers is sent forth to administer them, prisons and gibbets are 
erected to enforce them, and yet the means of repressing evils at their source, 
and thus preventing the crimes we strive to punish, are in our own hands We 
have onl}^ to build school-houses and educate the people. Education gives use- 
ful knowledge, practical training for all life's pursuits; it gives culture and 
growth; it is learning to think, learning to act; it is creating from the marble 
block the perfect statue; it develops the whole man pbj'sically, mentally, mor- 
ally; it is preparation for business and success in life. 



16 

But it is not my province, on this occasion, to consider the detnands wliich 
education has on our people. My duty is to assist in the a|)propriate transfer of 
tlie custody of this inagniticent structure from the Building Cuinmittee to the 
Executive of tiie District. The Building Coinniittue iielieve that the work is well 
done; that the bo3'8 and girls who may fit themselves for life's duties in this 
building will be well sheltered from winter's cold and from summer's heat, sur- 
rounded by comforts and conveniences to which their elders were strangers; and 
that the great cause of popular education will receive an increased impetus from 
the interest manifested by the residents of the nation's capital in dedicating this 
ex[)ensive structure to the cultivation of the mind. 

To you. Governor, as the Executive of the District of Columbia, I surrender 
the keys of this building. Our work is done; yours but commenced. Tiiat 
the great cause will not languish in your hands I feel well assured. May 
we not hope that at an early ])eriod we may congratulate you on liaving secured 
for us that recognition by our National Legislature which will take the form of 
liberal apiirojiriations of public lands, to be used in the advancement of our 
schools? 



KEM.VKKS OF THE HON. H. D. COOKE, GOVERNOR OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

l\Ir. Chairman: If I umlerstand the sj'^mbolism of this ceremony, the repre- 
sentative of the Building Committee, having in charge the erection of this 
structure, has delivered to me the keys thereof, in token that the work of his 
committee has been completed. I am now to transfer the keys to you and your 
associates, whose responsibility in connection therewith begins from this mo- 
ment. 

You and your co-laborers have well performed your task. You have provided 
a noble temple of learning and science, perfect externally in its architectural 
projiortions and adornments, ami arranged internally with admirable reference 
to health, comfort, convenience, and elegance. This is as it should be; for these 
surroundings constitute a part of the educational influences wliich are to refine 
and elevate the tastes of the favored youth who are to be gathered liere during 
the coming years. 

It remains for the school authorities to provide the intellectual furniture, if 
I may so express it, wliich, after all, is the garniture that will give to these 
spacious halls'their chief beauty. I refer not alone to the books, the maps, the 
scientific ajijiaratus, the cabinet of natural history, but to the unseen machinery 
of moral and mental discipline; to the laboratory of tliought; to the s]iiritual 
gymnasium, in which mind and heart are to be trained to high and worthy 
eliorts and aims. 

The teachers whom you place in charge here must, of course, in great part 
create all these intangible, but nevertheless indispensable accessories. Or per- 
haps it would be better to say that these are not so much the creations of, as 
they are the emanations from the teachers, bringing within their gentle but 
resistless influence the stubborn will of the pupil; awakening and stimulating 
the sluggish mind, teaching it the luxurj'' of exercising its powers, giving it 
skill in tlie subtile alchemy of thought, and creating in it a thirst for knowledge; 
and, above all, educating the heart, so that it will infallibly discern and cling 
to the good, and abhor and eschew the evil. I feel that this great work will be 
intrusted to safe and judicious hands, and cannot doubt the future that awaits 
the renewed efl'orts of yourselves and the teachers, in view of the success which 
has attended your labors in the past. 

Next to civil and religious freedom we ought to thank God for free schools, 
without which, in a Government like ours, positive freedom in the broad sense 
in which it is enjoyed in this country cannot long exist. Free schools are not 
only the crowning glory of our re[iul)lic, but they are its greatest human safe- 
guard. They are both its strength and its beauty. 

It is well, therefore, that the capital of the nation, so long a laggard among 



17 

its sister cities in the march of educational development, should have stepped 
towards the front with the rapid strides it has made during the last decade. Its 
course is still onward, and although we cannot yet claim to be the first, we are 
already numbered among the first. Drawing our encouragement from the prog- 
ress ot the past, and from such happy occasions as the present, is it presump- 
tuous in us to aspire to the hope that the future is not remote when the District 
ot Columbia shall become the educational centre, as it is already the political 
centre, of the nation? 

Mr. Murtagh, I now have tlie pleasure of presenting to you, as the represent- 
ative of the Trustees of Public Schools for tlie Fourth School District, the keys 
of the Jefferson School Building, which has been most appropriately named 
after the great President of the United States who, while holding his high office, 
was himself a Trtistee of the Public Schools of Washington. No worthier or more 
grateful monument than this could have been reared in honor of his memory. 



ADDRESS OF MR. WM. J. MaRTAGK, TRUSTEE OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FOURTH SCHOOL 

DISTRICT. 

It becomes my duty, and it is a pleasure, to receive from your hands the keys 
of this noble edifice, dedicated to-day to the cause of popular education. During 
the last ten years the genius of history has recorded events unparalleled in her 
annals. While these scenes were transpiring, and within sound of the conflict 
upon which hung the fate of the nation, the Public Schools of Washington 
advanced quietly and steadily to their present vigor and success. The year 
1861 found US without a single building suitable for school purposes. We had 
badly-ventilated rooms in rented buildings, and such corporation property as 
could be made available for school purposes, after the most patient remodeling, 
failed to provide us with even comfortable accommodations. 

Early in the administration of Mayor Wallach the first important school 
building was completed in the Third School District, which bears his name, and 
reflects honor upon his administration. We pointed the strangers and educators 
wiio visited our city to this structure with pride and satisfaction, and it was 
worihy of the notice it received. 

Following this came the Franklin Building, in the First School District, begun 
by Mayor Wallach, conceived, planned, and carried out by our present Super- 
intendent, Mr Wilson, then a Trustee, and completed during the administration 
of Mayor Bowen. This magnificent structure far exceeded its predecessor in the 
grandeur of its proportions, the thoroughness of its accommodations, and its 
superior locality It is worth}' of remark, that in all its essential details and 
adaptability to the great purpose for which it was designed, it is not surpassed 
by any similar edifice in the country. 

In turn the Seaton Building, in the Second School District, was added to the 
list by Mayor Emery, and is not inferior to its predecessors save in its school 
accommodations. 

To-day we dedicate the Jefferson Building, in the Fourth School District, 
completing the list of structures which are the pride of the Board of Trustees 
and an honor to the national metropolis. It is proper that I should make a 
per.sonal allusion to one to whom the people of the Fourth District are largely 
indebted for this building and the pleasure of this occasion. I refer to Mr. 
Champlin. His patient perseverance and self-sacrifice have nowhere been more 
markeil than in urging the appropriation for this building and superintending 
its construction. It is a pleasure to be able to bear testimony to his zeal and 
capability. 

Ttiese buildings are the production of the last ten years. We have made 
equal progress in other departments of the work. We have availed ourselves 
of all the educational appliances which are essential to success, ami which 
enable our Public Schools to take rank with the best private institutions in 



18 

tlie lane], and in the thorougliness oi' tlieir elementary teaching to excel them. 
The heav}' expense attending tliese results has been borne wholly by the 
tax-piiying people of Wasliinglon. Not one dollar have we received from the 
General Government. While large grants of public lands have been made for 
educational purposes in the various States of the Union, the District of Colum- 
bia, tlie ward of Congress, still stands j)leading at the door for a generosity that 
is hers by precedent, if not by right. 

At tiie risk of criticism I feel it to be a duty to make some reference to the 
faithful bodjr of Trustees, to whom in a great measure the success of our school 
system belongs. They have been men of excellent moral character; no sus- 
picion of dishonor has been cast upon them. From year to year, at great loss 
of time and consequent neglect of business, they have steadily devoted them- 
selves to one object — that of enlarging the sphere of popular education, and 
transmitting it unimpaired to their successors. Many of them have been called 
ufion to exemplify the greatest patience and forbearance toward those whose 
duty it was to aid and encourage tlieni as benefactors. 

To the responsibilities of tliese men wo add today a new trust. If the expe- 
rience of faithfulness in the past is any guarantee of faithful service in the 
future, you may safely jilace the keys of this building in the hands of the men 
I represent. In their name I accept the trust confided to them, with the fervent 
hope that our Public School system may advance in importance and usefulness, 
and as the college student turns in after years with pride and pleasure to the 
time-honored building where the preparation for the battle of life was made, so 
the Public School student will make a pilgrimage to the no less imposing temple 
of education, such as we dedicate to day, with kindred interest and affection. 



A boautifiil qunrtptte, entitled " Rock of Agf^^;," was sung by four young lailies 
from the Female Grammar School ; and 

Master John T. Taylor, a pupil in the Male Grammar School of the Fourth 
School District, recited the following: 

DEDICATORY ODE, WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION BY MR. EDWARD RESAUD. 

We meet together here to-ihiy — sage, hero, man, and boy — 
The myrtle and the laurel crown have decked this hour of joy; 
E'en far Japan".s ambassador is here the scene to grace, 
And own the triumph of the trutli that knows no clime nor race. 

Still has the lisrlit that dawned for us in .Jofiersonian days 
Spread, lilie a growing snn, abroad its vivifying rays, 
Until to-day we dedicate, with songs and loud acclaim, 
A gorgeous temple of the truth witli this time-lionored name. 

Not on the gory battle-field are onr great triumphs won, 
'Mid clash of charging squadrons, and thundering boom of gun; 
But by the priests of knowledge, who, with their steadfixst hands, 
Still guard the cordon of the truth that girdles many lands. 

For knowledge, ever onward, holds hor calm, resistless marcli, 
And builds, to span a wondering world, her grand, triumphal arch; 
Deep are its strong foundations laid, and, as the years increase, 
Higli on the summit shall be set the olive-branch of peace. 

And yet a mightier aid wc own, to keep us strong and true, 

In this our onward, upward path, to strive and dare and do, 

And, with uplifted, earnest gaze upon the eternat stars, 

Walk steadfast in the path, an<l own His hand who makes or mars. 



19 

Following the recitation of the ode, the choir snng the chorus, "Awake! 
and let your songs resound." 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. BIRDSEY GRANT NORTHROP, SECRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD 
OF EDUCATION, CONNECTICUT. 

Mr. Chairman: If Dr. Sunderland, in liis interpretation of the prophecy just 
read, means that Washington was "the wilderness," "the solitary place," edu- 
cationally, ten years ago, I fully concur with him, and also in the view that this 
city, which so recently was the desert, now, indeed, doth "bud and blossom as 
the rose." Nearly ten years ago I was invited, under the administration of 
Mayor Wallach, to give a lecture in the hall of the Smitlisonian Institution to the 
friends of education in tliis city on " the advantages of the supervision of schools." 
Previously Washington- had not regularly era)doyed a city superintendent of 
schools. To ascertain the facts in the case, and to learn more fully the need of 
such supervision, I visited your schools, and was greatly surprised to find them, 
as a whole, in a low condition. While there were some fair buildings and as 
good schools as could be expected under the circumstances, there were many 
kept in wretched rooms, hired houses, " Peggotty" palaces. The whole system 
was unworthy of a city of the culture, size, and resources of Washington, a con- 
spicuous disgrace to the nation that boasted of the excellence of its schools, and 
discreditable to Congress that persistently overlooked the educational need of 
this District, while it was heljiing the remotest Territories. But, how grand and 
cheering the change wrouglit during the last ten years. These new and noble 
edifices fairly indicate also the great improvement of the schools themselves. 
Having recently inspected them, I congratulate you on the marked progress 
made and on the manifold evidence of their faithful supervision. Formerly 
your schools were not only poor, but for the poor only. They were regarded as 
pauper schools. To attend them was disrejmtable. Private schools were sus- 
tained by the rich, and the public schools had degenerated, bacause the so-called 
better classes did not patronize them nor care for them. But the new educational 
system of Washington is undermining that system of caste and promoting greater 
sympathy, intercourse, and acquaintance among all classes. While your Public 
Schools are now better than private schools, giving a more thorough and sub- 
stantial education, thus becoming good enough for the sons of the rich, they are 
none too good for the sons of tlie poor. 

It benefits all classes thus to mingle together. Those whose temptation and 
weakne.ss come from undue reliance on rank and riches, may learn a needful les- 
son of humility and energj', as they wrestle with some bright and studious son 
of poverty, the boy, all his life pinched by penury, dispirited by his hard lot, 
his humble parentage, plain home, and plainer garb, gets a lesson of hope and 
encouragement as he wins the prizes for scholarship. The High School is truly 
democratic, it is a leveler, and the best of it is, it always levels vp .Money and 
station nowhere count less than in the recitation room. Here caste is unknown. 
The children of the rich and the poor sit side by side, and work band in hand, 
forgetful of all social distinctions. That privilege, to my certain knowledge, 
has cheered and gladdened many an obscure liousehold. The richest prize I 
have sometimes seen carried to the humblest home. 

As Washington formerly suffered from an illibeial spirit, so in the future your 
present liberality will bring an ample recompense. A farm on whicli from 
miserly narrowness the fences are allowed to crumble, the trenches to fill up, and 
tlie weeds to thrive, and where the fertilizing compost is scantily applied, loses 
in annual productiveness and permanent value. No less ruinous to any city is 
a penurious policy in regard to schools. Especially in this metropolis of America 
would sucli a policy defeat its own aim of saving, and result in deterioration 



20 

and loss. It would be "penny wise and pound foolisli." I advocate tlie mOi=t 
rigid econoni}' in all things, but (his is by no means a f-ynonyin for jiarsimony. 
A mere saving of money is not economy where there is a proportionate loss of 
something of greater value. In the beautiful letter in which Penn took leave 
of his family, he said to his wife, " Live low and sparingly until my debts be 
paid." Yet for his children he added, " Let their learning be liberal, spare no 
cost, for by such parsimony all is lost that is saved." Many, unlike Penn, 
would " save " and curtail all educational expenses, that they ma^^ leave a larger 
fortune for half-educated children to squander in luxury and idleness, forgetting 
that a good moral and mental training is the richest and safest legacy, the best 
safeguard against prodigality. Without it the sudden inheritance of wealth 
will be likely to transform the frugal boy into a reckless spendthrift. 

Those who have no children have at least their own interests and happiness 
at stake, and how can their personal and pecuniary interests be more advanced 
than by that great agency which tends more eftectually to promote industry and 
intelligence, taste and raoralit}'. An intelligent and virtuous community v/ill 
always be rich. The wisest of men first sought wisdom, and then wealth flowed 
in abundantly. 

Washington has lately made munificent expenditures for schools, but they 
will prove your most profitable investments. No external advantages of land- 
scape and location can contribute so much towards making any spot an inviting 
place of residence as the excellence of its schools and the consequent intelligence 
of the community. In such a jilace home has a new value, and wealth still 
higher attractions. 

General education increases the value of all propert}'- and promotes its secu- 
rity. "Taxes raised for purposes of education are like vapors, which rise only 
to descend again in fertilizing showers to bless and beautify the land." There 
is no item in the catalogue of all our appropriations that ought to be met with 
so great tolerance and i'avor as that which is expended in the education of our 
youth. This constitutes the most important interest with which you have to 
do. Aside from the divinely -aiipointed agencies of religion, there is no ruling 
power like that of the common school. Nothing else can leave such an impress 
upon your social character and civil institutions. No other agency, so unostenta- 
tious and quiet in its work, is so powerful and pervading in its results, so cheap 
in its cost, and rich in its benefits. Apparently the work of to-day, it is laying 
the foundations of the social fabric for coming generations. No other legislation 
affects agencies so bountiful and abiding as that which acts through the schools 
on the mind and morals of society. A thousand considerations magnify its im- 
portance and claim from us a higher estimate of its rank. It is impossible to 
extol too much this great interest, whose blessings are beyond price. 

But you ask me to speak especially of the comparison of American and 
European schools. This subject would demand at least an hour's time, and 
I can now only present my earnest warning against a practice too common 
among us. 

American and European schools have their distinctive excellencies, and can 
each learn much from the other. Of late the schools of Prussia have been over- 
praised. Though justly lauded by Horace Mann, Prof. Stowe, and others thirti/ 
years ago, they do not retain the same preeminence. Relatively there has been 
greater progress in some other lands. The Prussian system, though of acknowl- 
edged excellence, is in some measure stereotyped. A just pride in the laurels 
won has tended to satisfaction with past achieyements. Tiie spirit of improve- 
ment and ambition for further progress are more manifest here than there, and 
now the commendations — well-deserved in the daysof Dinter — no longer belong 
exclusively or specially to them. Stimulated, indeed, by their illustrious exam- 
]>le, others have overtaken them in the race. These remarks apjdy to the gen- 
eral public school system, and not to their magnificent universities and other 
higher institutions. For graduates of our colleges, witli fixed principles, stmli- 
ous habits, and disciplined minds, the great universities of Europe ]»rofl^er the 
means of higher culture than America, can vet furnish. Put I'ur nur vouth the 



21 

so-called goWen opportunities of continental culture have been greatly exaf^ger- 
ated. For them our schools are better tlian the Euroiiean. To send our boys 
away to foreign boarding schools is a great mistake. This is one of the fashion- 
able follies which is just now iiavingits day, for with fashion one cannot reason. 
It is a costly fasliion,' not so mucii of money — that may be one of its attractions — 
as of character and the most practical culture. It is a fashion, too, which time 
and a wiser self-respect will rectify. As the comjiarative results of the two sys- 
tems come to be understood, the fond hopes so often wrecked in foreign lands 
will serve as beacons in tiie future. It is not in France alone that a moral 
malaria pervades tlie atmosphere. The history of the European centers of fash- 
ion long since refuted the jdausible but pernicious aphorism of Burke, that " vice 
loses half its evil by losing all its grossness." In tliose luxurious cities a volup- 
tuous refinement veils the grossest immorality under simulations of delicacy, if 
not under the sanction of law, and licenses vice herself, if only robed in tiie 
semblance of propriety. A thin veneering covers foul corruption. To offend 
against fashion is worse than to break the ten commandments, and vice has less 
to fear tlian vulgarity. If parents accompany their children, and still surround 
them with the restraints and inspirations of home, these objections are mainly 
obviated. The great advantages of foreign irai'e^ I fully admit. Personal ob- 
servations in foreign lands happily supplpment the scliool, remove narrowness 
by opening broader views, and thus stimulate tlie desire for knowledge. There 
is some sense in the old motto: "Drill a boy thoroughly in the rudiments, and 
then set liim on a horse and trot him around the world." 

In the German schools the course of study is so unlike ours, tlie subjects and 
metliods so peculiar, and the processes so slow, as to weary, if not disgust the 
American boy. To him the rules of school are odd, if not arbitrary. Many 
American boys I found there ill at ease, if not lieartily discontented and home- 
sick, partly because they felt that their new methods were not as well fitted to 
serve the practical ends of life and meet the conditions of success in America. 

Laws, customs, manners, and institutions educate as well as the school. Like 
an atmosphere, these influences surround the cliild, and unconsciously mould his 
character. These elements, healthful and invigorating in republics, are repressive 
in monarchies, where you witness on every hand an obsequiousness to rank, a 
deference to usage, an unquestioning submission to mere authority, which are 
unfriendly to the elasticity, the independence, and still more, to the aspirations 
of the juvenile mind. The gens d'arvies standing at every corner is only one 
of many reminders that there is always near you, or rather over you, tlie out- 
stretched arm of resistless power. In the knowledge of men and things, in 
courage and aspiration, in pnsli and energy, in solid utility, and the adaptation 
of means to ends, American education means more than German or that of any 
other n;ition. 

In ])bi]ological studies and researches, and in tlie refinements of art, European 
schools excel. But their admirable linguistic and esthetic culture ill compen- 
sates for the loss of a more practical training, and the neglect of our own vernac- 
ular and literature, too common with boys educated abroad. These exiles return 
too often unamericanized, if not unchristianized. After carefully observing both 
processes and results, as illustrated in large numbers educated abroad and at 
home, the conviction is forced upon me that the thousands of our youth schooled 
abroad return with an education less substantial than that afforded at home. 
Their breadth, art, elegance, refinement, not to say assumption, are by no means 
the surest conditions of success in the practical duties and stern realities of life. 

Mr. Northrop also spoke of the points in which our schools excel those in Eu- 
rope, viz: 1, school architecture; 2, ventilation ; 3, school furniture; 4, text- 
books; 5, rapid mental combinations in arithmetic; 6, geography and map draw- 
ing ; 7, religious instruction ; 8, school government ; 9, co-education of the sexes; 
and said, if time permitted, he could present twenty particulars in which the 
schools of Europe excel ours, and in reference to which we may follow their 
example and ought to do so. He had time to discuss only two of these, viz: 
The supervision of schools and the culture of the expressive faculties. 



00 



REMARKS OP PROF. JOSEPH HENRV, SECRETARV OF THE SMITHSONtAN INSTITUTION. 

Ladies and (iEntlemen; It will be seen that I am laboring ninler so severe a 
cold as to be unable to give distinct utterance to my thouglits, and, not expecting 
to be called upon, I ought not to occupy tiie time of tliis interesting occasion by 
attempting to make unpremeditated remarks. I will, however, express one 
i(iea, wliicli has suggested itself to me during the exercises, viz: that the thanks 
of tiie people of the District of Columbia are due to the Building Committee 
and the Architect for the hall in which we are assembled, whii:h by its form 
and internal arrangement is admirably adapted for lectures on account both of 
its acoustic and optical properties. I trust it will often be used for such pur- 
poses, ami that while the main building is devoted to the education of tlie 
young, this room will be frequently u-;eil for the mental improveiUKnt of the 
adult portion of the District. I ho[)e that courses of lectures, with but a small 
fee for admission, will be est-iblished, since these can be sustained almost en- 
tirely by voluntary lecturers, without foreign aid. There is no city in tiie United 
States in |)roportion to its population where there is a greater number of literary 
and scientific men to be found in the various Departments of the Government, 
and their services can be ha'l for the asking. 

For my own part I shall cheerfully be at the service of the Trustees at any 
time they may call upon me. I feel a dee[i interest in the intellectual and 
moral adv.incement of the City of Washington, and have devoted twenty- five 
years of my life towanls rendering it a centre of scii^ntific activity, commen- 
surate in importance with its political inHuence. I feel that my labors in this 
line have not been in vain, and that with the material improvements tiiat are 
going on with so much vig'ir, an intellectual movement is also in progress, 
which together will, in time, fully realize for Washington what its illustrious 
foun ler so ardently desired. 

With tlie-e remarks I will give place to my friend Doctor Tyudall, of the 
Royal Institution of London, whose presence gives additional interest to this 
occasion. He is not only one of the best living teichers of tlie principles of 
science, but is also an original discoverer: one who has enlarged the bounds oi 
knowledge, and whose name is known in every ]>art of the civilized world. 



REMARKS OF M (i. JOUN TYNDALL, PROFES-^OR OF NATURAL PniLOSOPHV IN THE 
ROVAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRtrAIN. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: It is not possible fu- me to be present on this occa- 
sion without feeling, as it were, overshadowed by the earnestness of those who 
have thus far taken part in the [>roceeding.s. I have listened to the speakers 
who preceded me with the most lively interest; and with much that thoy have 
stated I agree. With regard, however, to the present condition of education in 
Europe, it cannot be fairly judged without reference to its antecedents; and 
when these are taken into account, the conclusion will be that we are going on, 
if not quickly, at least well. To understand the German system of eilucation, we 
must go to the roots from which it has sftrung. We must .judge of it, moreover, in 
reference to the people in the midst of whom it has grown. In that aspect it is 
in the main a noble system, and it has made Germany the nation that Germany 
now is. No one will suspect me of much sympathy with the dogmatic and doc- 
trinal teaching commented upon by the previous speaker as prevalent in our 
Englisli schools; but here again the antecedents must be taken into account, 
and where this is done, it will be seen that we are probably progressing in lOng- 
land at as great a speed as is good for us. It is by a process of slow and healthy 
extension that the old and effete in England are made to give place to the new 
au'l the living. Trust me, there are forces at work in England which will abol- 
ish the anomalies referi'ed to in due time. 

Wishing to le;irn something by personal inspection of the mode of education 
ill America, I could not decline the invitation to come iiere to-d.iv. And what 



23 

I have seen liafs deeply interested me. It has revived a feeling which was in 
former years a source of light and warmth to my mind : the feeling of the dignity 
and the responsihility of the teacher's vocation. Wisely chosen, there is no 
vocation more im|)ortant, and there is, in my opinion, none more delightful. I 
speak with some slight practical knowledge, for during a couple of years of my 
life it was my fortune to be engaged in the education of boys in a college in 
England. A greater pleasure I never experienced than to observe the bright- 
ening, straightening, and expanding of the young mind under the discipline to 
which it was subjected. Our progress was a kind of triumphal march over dif- 
ficulties; and it fires me now to tliink of the manner in which the boys and I 
worked togetiier. I sought not to instruct alone, not to convey information 
merely; above all, I avoided overloading the memory. I sought to kindle in 
every young mind love for knowledge, and resolution in the face of diffici;lty; 
and though my experience was sliglit, my success was complete. But I must not 
take up your attention with my own small doings, nor would I refer to them 
at all, were it not that I believe the stirring up of the pupil's intellectual life to 
be, if possible, more important than the imparting of information. The charac- 
ter of the teacher must operate quite as much as his intellect upon his boys. 



REMARKS OF MR. JCGOI ARINORI MORI, OF JAPAN, CHARGE D AFFAIRES AT WASH- 
INGTON. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am most happy to participate with you in the 
pride and pleasure of this day, and [)erhaps I can say nothing more acceptable 
to you, certainly notliing more agreeable to myself, than to tell you that my 
own country is about to follow in the footsteps of your republic and establish a 
complete system of public free schools. Already it has been pro|)osed by the 
Government of Japan to divide the empire, made up of seventy-two provinces 
and three cities, into 8 collegiate divisions. Each collegiate division is to 
be divided into 32 academical districts, and each of the latter is to be divided 
iiito 210 school districts; thus making 256 academical districts and 53,760 
school districts. 

Every child, male and female, of all classes, is to be sent to school, from the 
age of six; and must, at least, finish the course in the elementary school, which 
extends throagha period of thr^e years in the lower grade, and four years in 
the higher, or until the age of thirteen. 

The academies are divided into two grades, tlie lower for those from tliirteen 
to sixteen years of age, and the higher extending through three years, or until 
the age of nineteen. 

A complete schedule of studies for each grade, and the appropriate officers for 
sup>ervising and administering the system, are specified in the official decree. 

1 believe that this action of the Government is an earnest of a new and 
brighter future for my country, and that the East will yet join hands with the 
West in the noble work of educatin» and elevating all classes of men. 



REMARKS OF THE HON. JAMES W. PATTERSON, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NEW 

HAMPSHIRE. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I came here to enjoy the luxury of listening, not to 
endure the dread of making a speech; but as any man in this country who de- 
clines to speak on any occasion or subject throws doubt on his American nativity 
and the cajiacity of men for self-government, I respond to the call of your Chair- 
man. In all of commendation wliicii has been uttered I fully concur. The peo- 
ple of all the States owe a debt of gratitude to the District of Columbia for what 
its citizens have done to improve and beautify the ca[iital of tht; nation. 

In a sense, you of this District are the representatives of the people of the 



24 

whole land. The civilization and progress of the country should here culminate 
and leave their tide-mark in tlie permanent institutions of the citj'; tliac so tlie 
"strano;er within our gates" may be impressed l)y onr greatness, and the patri- 
otic pride of the citizen be gratified ami sfrengtheneii as he visits the capital of 
his country. For myself, I rejoico that you have risen at lengtli to tlie measure of 
your responsibilities. A great and substantial work has here been accomplished. 
Tlie progress of half a century has been made in this city in half a decade. Its 
streets have been transformed from weary lines of ultimate dust and mire into 
splendid highways, unsurpa.ssed for beauty or use by any city of the world. 
Elegant and stately private residences, built for convenience and comfort, are 
supplanting the homely and dreary dwellings that cumbered and clung to 
your avenues and squares. Tlie old-time torpidity and contented stagnation 
are giving i)lace to public enterprise and a desire to imfirove. 

They who come here to make tlie laws and administer the Government of tlie 
nation are beginning to feel a proper pride in its capital. 

In notliing has the advancement of this District been more marked than in 
its educational facilities. Less than ten years ago we dedicated the Wallach 
School Building. It was the first school-house, fit for its uses or worthy of the 
city, which had been built. At the time it was called Wallach's folly; but the 
community realized tliat with such foolish things of the world God confounds 
the wise, and so to-day we have four of these magnificent follies. 

Schools are not accidents: they are the outgrowth of public opinion. I once 
saw a cactus blooming amid the sands of the desert. Its verdure and beauty 
contrasted strangely with the surrounding desolation which it deepened, but it 
was in its own place. Through unseen cliannels it drew its life from the arid 
breast of nature, to which it gave a solitary charm. Through it the invisible 
nutriment of the air and the scattered grains of fertility lost in the sand were 
gathered and transmuted into leaf and blossom. It toiled .not, neither did it 
spin, yet God arrayed it from unseen looms in a splendor above the glory of 
Solomon. 

So school-houses are the flowering and fruitage of public opinion. We may 
not perceive any movement of the popular mind; but when tliey rise in a free 
community, they are the indices of its healthy growth. Washington is not an 
exception to the rule. 

Speakers who have preceded me have referred to the failure of Conc;ress to set 
apart a portion of the public domain for the support of schools in tlie District of 
Columbia. I do not question the justice of your complaint; for in this Congress 
has not come up to the measure of its obligations to the District. Butitshould 
not be forgotten that during the past twelve years events of transcendent im- 
portance have absorbed the attention of Congress and taxed the resources of 
Government. Perhaps local ambition, certainly an unpardonable indifference, 
has stood between you and your educational interests. But may we not hope 
tliat a better sentiment is beginning to prevail? If Congress has applied to you 
the rule of spiritual gifts, that to him who hath shall be given, but from him 
wiio hath not shall be taken even that which he hath, henceforth you cannot 
be turned away empty, and may reasonably expect that the grant of public lands 
so often asked for maj^ soon be made. 

Dr. Franklin suggested years ago that the man who emptied his pocket into 
his head made a safe investment. It is equally true that the brain, if originall}'- 
sound, will make liberal dividends to the pocket upon all its investments. Ed- 
ucation increases the productive j:)ower of a people, and adds infinitely to their 
resources. It not only increases the quantity, but improves the quality of all 
things. The sweetest flowers, the most delicious fruits, and the noblest animals 
are developed from tlie rudest types of each by such rnetliods as science and ex- 
])erience have taught. By similar means men are ennobled and refined. Mental 
work begets mental strength, and thought the power of thought. Study strength- 
ens, elevates, and utilizes the faculties. An ignorant community is impotent, 
thriftless, and vulgar; it cannot realize its profoundest relations and largest 
possibilities. 



25 

Common schools are the source of our prosperity, and tlie security of our insti- 
tutions. We owe it to the past and the future to extend their influence and 
elevate their character; they are as essential to our internal peace and security 
as the fortifications which stand at the gateways of the republic are to its exte- 
rior defense. 



REMARKS OF THE HON. J0H^f EATON, JR., UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDU- 
CATION. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: Certainly you will not expect 
extended remarks from me, after all that has been said, and so well said. Each 
sees the import of these interesting exercises, modified somewhat by the light 
slied upon them from his daily duties. In the National Office of Education, 
holding communication, as I am required to do, with all parts of our country 
and all other civilized nations, I see this dedication of the Jefferson School 
Building in the City of Washington, not simply as it affects so deeply and bene- 
ficially the children of this community, but I hear in it significant language, 
bearing upon tlie solution of the general problems of education, which speaks to 
all the people oLour country and to other nations inquiring of us in regard to 
educational progress. 

It is pleasant to me to be able to point the visitors from difterent States and 
foreign countries to results more and more satisfactory here at the seat of the 
National Government — here, where the model should be for the country and the 
world. 

We have heard how the founders of tlie Republic sought to promote the 
means of universal education. The events which intervened between their day 
and ours tell us how their hopes were defeated or delayed ; how they were not 
permitted to see the fruits of their endeavors. But the destruction of the insti- 
tution which for the time defeated their purposes, and the passing away of the 
darkness necessary to its existence, give us the assurance of the dawn of a new 
era. Tlie completion of this building, these exercises here, where universal 
education for so many decades seemed impossible, are harbingers of the coming 
day. 

George Peabody, as a great philanthropist, proposed the sentiment, "Educa- 
tion, a debt due from tlie j)resent to future generations." As a great banker, 
he was permitted, as no other private citizen ever has been, from his own means 
to pay that debt. Washington, Jefferson, and other founders of the Republic, 
as officers of the nation, as citizens of tlieir respective States and communities, 
acknowledged in every relation the obligation to promote universal education. 

May we not accept the completion of tliis building here, the sentiments ex- 
pressed on this occasion, what is transpiring in other communities, and especi- 
ally the fact that Presidents and national statesmen again manifest an interest 
in this primary and fundamental concern of the citizen, as most gratifying evi- 
dences that we live in the day when the debt which the fathers acknowledged 
is not only to be accepted, but .paid by every community, by every State, and 
by the nation as well; not by any unfit action anywhere, but by each in its 
sphere performing the duties which our Constitution and its traditions enforce. 
Certainly do I hope that the National Government, now that the citizens of 
Washington are doing so generously for themselves, will respond in such meas- 
ures of aid as shall be adequate to the just and fair demands of your educa- 
tional interests. 



The choir sung the selection, "See the beaut}' dwelling round our way," and 
the ceremonies of the day ended witlia benediction pronounced by tiie Reverend 
C. C. ileador. 



26 

letter from nis excellencv tite president of the united states. 

Executive Mansion, 

Washington, D. C, Dec. G, 1872. 
Mr. J. Ormond Wilson, 

Bi(j)crintcndent of Public h'chools. 
My DEAR Sir: I regret that I shall be unable to be present, in accordance 
with your very polite invitation, at the formal opening and dedication to-morrow 
of the Jefferson School Building. The cause of education is one in which all 
good citizens must take great interest, and the praiseworthy efforts in behalf of 
that ^reat object made by the District of Columbia can but be a source of great 
gratihcation to its citizens, and reflect much credit upon the officers in charge 
of the work. 

It would afford me much pleasure to be present to-morrow, if my public 
engagements would allow, and I beg you to accept my thanks for your kind 
invitation. Very respectfully, yours, 

U. S. Grant. 



r;> 



DESCRIPTION AND DEDICATION 



JEFFEE80N 



Public School Building, 



December 7, 1872, 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



But our children will be as wise as we are, and will establish in the ftilnessi 
of time those things not yet ripe for establishment— Thomas Jepfbbson. 



WASHINGTON CITY: 

M'aiLL A WITHEROW, PRINTERS AND STEEEOTYPEBS 

1872. 



